Heartthrob, Your Image is Crumbling!

Chapter 548: Night Talk

"I am right here."Just as they were wondering where Zhou Yuwen was, they saw him walk out from the room while putting on his clothes. Following closely behind him was Lu Wanting. Her office lady uniform was tailored to perfectly accentuate her figure. It was incredibly beautiful, but putting it on was a tedious process. After the passionate lovemaking she had just shared with Zhou Yuwen, some frantic pulling and tugging had been inevitable. Even though she was fully dressed again, her clothes sat somewhat awkwardly on her body, making it blatantly obvious to anyone what the two of them had been doing inside.

As all eyes converged on them, Lu Wanting smiled in embarrassment. Walking in front, Zhou Yuwen looked at Su Qing, whom he had not seen in a long time. Seeing that she was as elegant and radiant as ever, he could not help but smile. "Long time no see."

Su Qing watched the two of them emerge from the room. Although she would no longer throw an unreasonable tantrum like she would have in the past, she still felt a pang of discomfort in her heart. She merely cast a glance at Zhou Yuwen and remained silent.

When Su Qing returned from her classes, it was just about time to eat. Although the household had a dedicated private chef, Zhou Yuwen and the others had traveled a long way, so it was only proper to find a decent, high-end restaurant to welcome them.

Thus, they drove two cars and specifically headed to a grand hotel downtown for their meal. In the capitalist world, everywhere they went was resplendent and magnificent. Naturally, the service attitude of the hotel staff was absolutely impeccable. The menu featured delicacies from all over the world, including turkey, roast lamb, and Australian lobster. Course after course was brought to the table on covered plates, with the silver domes only lifted once they were set down.

In addition to the feast, they also popped open a few bottles of champagne.

Nowadays, Zheng Yanyan wanted to take photos wherever she went. Even during the meal, she insisted on taking selfies with Lu Lin. However, Lu Lin whispered to Zheng Yanyan, asking if she could stop acting like someone who had never seen the world before.

"So many people are watching."

While editing her photos, Zheng Yanyan replied that there was nothing to be afraid of, as there were no outsiders present.

Since arriving in New York, Shen Yu had become quite clingy with Su Qing. To be completely honest, Shen Yu felt somewhat guilty toward Su Qing at this moment. After all, Zhou Yuwen was Su Qing's man. In the past, Shen Yu had even told the girls to wake up and stop revolving their entire lives around a man all day long. Who could have imagined that in such a short period of time, she herself would join their ranks?

Because of this, Shen Yu felt incredibly awkward and wanted to find a proper time to explain everything clearly to Su Qing.

Meanwhile, Su Qing had indeed changed a lot compared to her past self. Most notably, she had become far more composed and mature. Although she still chatted with Shen Yu, there was always a subtle sense that she was maintaining a polite distance.

After arriving at the hotel, Su Qing continuously used English for communication with the hotel staff. She handled the room reservations and the food ordering all by herself, only occasionally pausing to ask for the opinions of Zhou Yuwen and Lu Wanting.

Standing beside Zhou Yuwen, Lu Wanting smiled at Su Qing and said, "You can decide. Whatever you choose is fine."

Su Qing responded by nodding and agreeing.

Just like that, dish after dish was ordered.

Only after finishing the order did Su Qing turn back to chat with Shen Yu, asking what she had just been saying.

Looking at the quietly elegant and serene Su Qing before her, Shen Yu wanted to speak up, but the words caught in her throat. As they reached her lips, she simply murmured, "No, it is nothing."

Right now, Zhou Yuwen was acting as a complete hands-off boss, not concerning himself with any details. He simply waited for Su Qing to finish ordering before chuckling. "Just look at this woman. She really does have the aura of the lady of the house."

That single sentence immediately drew the attention of all the girls present. Zheng Yanyan, who had been keeping her head down to edit her photos, suddenly looked up. She glanced at Su Qing, who sat there with graceful dignity, her slender swan neck held high and straight. Then, looking back down at herself, Zheng Yanyan suddenly felt that she might be acting too much like a silly fool.

'Whatever, so what if I am a fool?'

'What is the damn use of being the lady of the house!'

After having that thought, Zheng Yanyan lowered her head and continued editing her pictures. She had indeed wanted to become Zhou Yuwen's main wife, but she only wanted to enjoy the authority that came with the position; she had no desire to fulfill obligations. Listening to Su Qing speaking fluent English just sounded exhausting to her.

Lu Lin was not particularly interested in that remark either. The only ones who likely harbored some secret thoughts about it were Shen Yu and Lu Wanting.

Picking up on Zhou Yuwen's comment, Lu Wanting let out a soft laugh and added, "Su Qing is indeed very capable. During these past few months in the United States, she has helped me out a great deal."

With just those few exchanged words, everyone present seemed to implicitly acknowledge Su Qing's status. Yet, Su Qing herself openly rejected the notion. "I have no interest in being your lady of the house. I am already exhausted enough as it is. You are just trying to feed me empty promises again."

Hearing this, Zhou Yuwen immediately burst into laughter. He retorted, "How can you say I am feeding you empty promises?"

"Everything I said came straight from the bottom of my heart. Would you not all agree?"

As Zhou Yuwen asked the group of women, the girls chuckled in response. Zheng Yanyan joined in the laughter, mimicking Su Qing's tone as she chimed in, "Give it a rest! Su Qing is absolutely right. You just love feeding people empty promises."

Feigning an unhappy expression, Zhou Yuwen replied, "I can let it slide when others say that about me, but how do you have the nerve to say such a thing?"

Zheng Yanyan let out a cheeky giggle. Zhou Yuwen then cast another glance at Su Qing, who still had her elegant swan neck held high, and declared, "I have never made you any empty promises. As for the specifics, we can have a nice, long chat about it tonight."

Su Qing simply replied, "I do not have time to chat with you."

"Tonight, my old roommates and I need to catch up since we have not seen each other in so long. We have to have a proper gathering. You can just have Sister Wanting keep you company." As she spoke, Su Qing gently took hold of Shen Yu's hand.

The moment Lu Wanting heard this, she immediately pretended to frown. "Oh my, Su Qing, the way you speak makes it sound as if I am an outsider."

Zhou Yuwen pulled Lu Wanting into an embrace and boldly declared, "Of course you are an outsider."

"Out of the six people here, both you and I are outsiders. Let us go enjoy some time just the two of us and ignore them."

"Haha."

Originally, Zhou Yuwen had fully intended to spend tonight with Su Qing. However, he had not expected that she would willingly yield the opportunity of his first night in town to someone else. Looking closely at the expression in her eyes, he truly felt that Su Qing had grown up.

In truth, Su Qing's arrangement was for the best. Since it was Zhou Yuwen's very first day arriving from their home country, he naturally had to spend time with either Su Qing or Lu Wanting. Given that he could not accompany both of them in a single night, he had to choose one.

Su Qing had a closer relationship with Shen Yu and the other girls, so by taking the initiative to speak up, she made things easier for everyone involved.

Although Lu Wanting had complained on the surface, she was actually deeply grateful to Su Qing in her heart. Her bond with Zhou Yuwen was not as deeply entrenched as Su Qing's. She and Zhou Yuwen had only just established their romantic relationship before being immediately thrust into a long-distance, transnational affair. Now that they finally had the rare chance to meet once, she naturally wished to stay by his side every waking moment.

And so, the matter was settled. After finishing their meal, they did not linger to wander around downtown, but instead headed straight back to the villa. The basement of the villa featured a private KTV room. The girls went down to sing for a while and ended up drinking quite a bit of alcohol.

Later, seeing that the four girls were having a wonderful time, Zhou Yuwen took Lu Wanting's hand and told Su Qing, "We will go rest up first."

Nodding in understanding, Su Qing glanced over at Zheng Yanyan and the others who were still singing away, and replied, "Go ahead. Leave them to me; I will take good care of them."

Standing there, Zhou Yuwen gazed down at the seated Su Qing. He smiled affectionately, reaching out to gently pat her head as he softly remarked, "You really have grown up quite a bit."

"Coming from you, saying that to someone in their thirties does not exactly sound like a compliment," Su Qing pointed out.

"Thirty? Are you not even twenty yet?" Zhou Yuwen chuckled.

Su Qing merely shot him an exasperated eye roll.

After that, Zhou Yuwen led Lu Wanting away.

In reality, Zhou Yuwen was genuinely exhausted. After all, he had been stuck on an airplane for a very long time.

When taking a shower that night, he enjoyed a long soak in the bathtub and casually had Lu Wanting scrub his back for him.

Afterward, he was lying prone on the bed while Lu Wanting, wrapped only in a bath towel, straddled him to give him a full-body massage.

Lu Wanting asked Zhou Yuwen how long he had been dating Su Qing.

Zhou Yuwen asked her why she was bringing that up.

Lu Wanting replied that she just had this persistent feeling that he and Su Qing had been together for a very long time.

"It almost feels like the two of you were married."

Hearing this, Zhou Yuwen finally rolled over. He cast a somewhat surprised look at Lu Wanting and asked, "What makes you think that?"

Lu Wanting explained that it was just a simple gut feeling.

"To be honest, I truly envy Su Qing. I feel like even though you have many women around you, she is the only one who actually understands you."

As she spoke, Lu Wanting snuggled down into Zhou Yuwen's embrace. Zhou Yuwen let out a soft chuckle at her words. Holding her closely in his arms, he whispered, "There is no need to envy her. Understanding someone too deeply is not necessarily a good thing. As they say, distance creates beauty."

"But our distance is a little too far," Lu Wanting whined, acting spoiled as she burrowed deeper into his chest. Feeling wronged, she pouted, "We had only just established our relationship, and you immediately tossed me away to a place this far from home."

"I have missed you so much."

Zhou Yuwen sighed, "I really had no other choice."

"This position is simply too important. I could not feel at ease handing it over to anyone else," he said, trying to coax her.

Lu Wanting let out a delicate hmph and muttered, "Then you should just find someone else to do it."

"Every day, for your sake, I wake up earlier than the roosters and go to bed later than the pigs. Just look, my hairline is already receding." As she spoke, she pushed her hair back to expose her forehead for Zhou Yuwen to inspect.

In response, Zhou Yuwen planted two gentle kisses on her forehead and assured her, "Alright, alright. Just hold on for a few more years. Once the company is properly on track, I will transfer you back home."

"Really?"

Lu Wanting was overjoyed to hear this. Zhou Yuwen firmly declared that it was absolutely true. Why would he ever lie to her about such a thing?

"Hehe, then I will massage you for a little while longer."

Zheng Yanyan was truly brimming with energy. Although she had felt quite drained when they first got off the airplane after such a long flight, she had somehow grown more and more spirited as the night progressed. Especially after discovering that the villa had its own private KTV, she sang a couple of songs, threw back a few drinks, and completely let loose.

In the past, the conflict between Zheng Yanyan and Su Qing had actually been quite deep.

However, as time passed, those grievances had largely dissipated. This was especially true after Su Qing directly clashed head-on with Jiang Xinyi, earning Zheng Yanyan's genuine admiration. Now, Zheng Yanyan truly wanted to get along well with Su Qing, but she just could not seem to find the right opportunity.

While they were singing, Zheng Yanyan took the initiative to approach Su Qing, asking to share a couple of drinks with her.

Su Qing waved her hand dismissively, stating that she had not touched alcohol in a very long time.

"You girls just go ahead and have fun," Su Qing urged gently.

But Zheng Yanyan aggressively refused. "No way! If you do not drink, are you not just refusing to give me face?"

"You have to drink!"

"Su Qing, we might have had a lot of conflicts in the past, but we cleared the air. Besides, from now on, we are both Zhou Yuwen's women. You are the primary wife, and I am the second! Once we drink this glass, we are sworn sisters!" Zheng Yanyan declared earnestly, holding her wine glass high.

Hearing this bold proclamation, Lu Lin could not help but laugh inwardly.

'You really are not one to suffer losses, Zheng Yanyan,' she mused.

Realizing that being the main wife was too exhausting, Zheng Yanyan had simply decided to elevate Su Qing to the position, conveniently securing her own status as the second sister in the process.

Originally, Su Qing had no intention of drinking with her. But seeing how serious and determined Zheng Yanyan looked, she eventually picked up the wine jar and clinked glasses with her. "Let us just take a symbolic sip. I really cannot handle alcohol."

"Then you can drink as you please, but I am downing the whole thing!"

Zheng Yanyan was as boldly unrestrained as ever. Without another word, she enthusiastically chugged the entire glass.

Seeing this play out, Su Qing felt a bit helpless. After finishing her drink, Zheng Yanyan proudly turned her wine bottle upside down to show Su Qing it was empty, while Su Qing simply held onto hers, taking tiny, polite sips.

Zheng Yanyan did not force Su Qing to drink more, simply telling her that a little taste was perfectly fine.

"I am going back to sing."

Boisterous as ever, Zheng Yanyan bounded off, eagerly pestering Lu Lin and Shen Yu to sing with her.

Su Qing sat there alone, quietly listening to the girls belt out their tunes.

Naturally, she eventually joined in, singing two soft, soothing songs herself.

By the time it had gotten very late, Zheng Yanyan was completely intoxicated. She collapsed face-first onto the sofa. She had originally intended to just rest her eyes for a moment, but to everyone's amusement, she fell fast asleep almost instantly.

As a result, the remaining three girls had to support her weight and carry her to a bed so she could properly rest.

Su Qing then suggested, "I asked the butler to brew a pot of tea. Shall we sit together for a while?"

Lu Lin and Shen Yu exchanged a glance before nodding in agreement.

Late at night, the sky outside was adorned with brilliant, twinkling stars.

Most of the servants in the villa had already retired for the evening.

Su Qing and the other girls took quick showers and changed into clean pajamas.

Su Qing was wearing a European-style nightdress. Draped over her slender frame, it truly gave her an air that was dignified and graceful.

The three of them sat by the window, sipping their tea and chatting as they admired the peaceful night view.

Shen Yu finally found the perfect opportunity to tell Su Qing the story of how she and Zhou Yuwen had gotten together. Shen Yu genuinely felt quite ashamed, but Su Qing merely smiled nonchalantly and assured her that it was nothing to worry about.

"Honestly, I am actually quite happy that you are with Zhou Yuwen."

"Su Qing..." Shen Yu looked at her in confusion.

Su Qing calmly explained, "You are gentle, understanding of the bigger picture, and you are my absolute best friend."

"If you had not gotten together with Zhou Yuwen, I reckon I would have only seen you a handful of times in my entire life, and it would have been absolutely impossible to see you here today."

Hearing Su Qing say this, Shen Yu was instantly overwhelmed with emotion. Her nose tingled with unshed tears, making her feel even more guilty for wronging her friend.

But Su Qing quickly urged Shen Yu not to carry such a heavy burden. She pointed out that a lass like Yanyan was far too simple, and she herself was constantly out of the country.

"With the two of you by Zhou Yuwen's side, I can feel much more at ease," Su Qing added, casting a meaningful glance toward Lu Lin as she spoke.

Lu Lin remained silent.

With that settled, Su Qing shifted the topic to ask some questions regarding Li Shiqi.

When Shen Yu had been sharing her own story, she had inevitably mentioned Li Shiqi in passing. Now that Su Qing was explicitly asking for details, Shen Yu recounted the entire incident where Li Shiqi had chosen to retort against Jiang Xinyi.

Su Qing listened intently before asking, "What kind of person do you feel she is?"

"She seems quite capable, but her intentions might not be as simple as they appear on the surface," Lu Lin commented indifferently.

Su Qing shot Lu Lin a thoughtful look. Based on the information Su Qing had gathered so far, combined with the context they had just provided, it meant that the only people actively standing in opposition to their little clique right now were likely Tao Tian and her small group.

The fact that Jiang Xinyi currently wanted to do business with Zhou Yuwen clearly indicated that she still harbored hopes of reconciling with him.

However, if she could not accept the reality that Zhou Yuwen had other women, then it would probably never work out.

"What is Tao Tian and her group's attitude toward Li Shiqi?" Su Qing asked.